UNITED NATIONS, February 14. /TASS/. Russia’s territory suffers from an enormous level of waste but since the Russian government is closely keeping an eye on the situation, chances are good that things may improve this year, Olga Timofeyeva, Chairperson of the State Duma’s Committee for Ecology and Nature Conservation told reporters on Monday.
Her statement was based on the adoption of new rules for recycling solid household waste in Russia.
"We realize full well our country has a huge degree of pollution (regarding litter)," Timofeyeva said, adding that the changeover to revised rules for handling solid household waste was as acute like never before.
"We were supposed to begin this year with the integration of the new rules but the period was extended for two years (through to January 1, 2019 - TASS)," she explained. The step will make it possible to conduct thorough preparations ahead of the enactment of the revised law, to select the companies that will carry out the removal and recycling of litter, to secure investment, to choose the sites for sorting garbage, and to calculate the municipal fees for these services.
Right now, several constituent regions of Russia, including the Moscow and the southern Stavropol regions are prepared to adopt the new rules in a trial test mode, Timofeyeva stated.
Commercial enterprises show interest in the recycling of garbage, as this business is obviously profitable but the problem is no one wants to handle the litter that has been piling up for quite some time, as the reclamation of just one landfill site costs about $85 million, she said.
The situation in the Moscow region where litter from the city of Moscow itself, Russia’s largest metropolis with a population of 10.5 million people, is dumped looks particularly serious.
"The city of Moscow accounts for one-fifth of all Russia’s garbage," Timofeyeva noted.